APA Journal November 2008

First hike in 12-13 years
Board approves

dues hike to °30

Recently the APA Board of Dir-
ectors approved a $5 hike in dues
bringing annual dues to $30. It has
been at least 12-13 years since the
last dues increase.

What brought the dues hike
about was the desire to have a
poster mailing every other year.
The increase in dues over a two
year period will provide the funds
necessary to secure tubes and pay
for the postage. To date three
members have volunteered to
handle the next tube mailing.

Further details on a coordinator
and the next tube mailing will be
made next year.

Do not send in dues at this
time. There will be a notice in
the January bundle.

wow

We used this
headline for the
poster mailing
and now again
for the November
bundle...what
else can we say
about this fan-
tastic envelope of
great printing?

Members hardly recovered from the
special September Poster Tube Mail-
ing when—WHAMO!—the Michael
Langford November bundle appeared. It
contained a hefty 89 pieces. Have no idea
what the record is for one bundle, but this
one had to be close, if not the record.

Chances are the December bundle also
will also be a bit hefty as there are those of

November 2008 4

us who wait a bit too long to produce our

four pieces for the bundle.

I'm sure all members spent an enjoyable
hour or two going over the pieces in the
bundle—many real gems! That's what
were all about and November showed our
colors loud and clear! Yes, it’s our 50" year
and were leaving this year with a bang.

This wasn't
how it looked
when Patty
and Mike
Anton bought
the Triple

Mike and Patty Anton had a piece in
the October bundle regarding acquiring a
Triple Polhemus (No. 4, 1912 ATF catalog,
page 1234) cabinet. It contains two banks
of 20 two-thirds cases, one bank of 18 full
California job cases, 10 sorts drawers and
galley storage. Mike said it had wood run-
ners so he thought it might be older than
1912.

They bought the cabinet, moved it, emp-
tied it, stripped it of its finish that was a

Printers’ Association — an organization composed of letterpress
printing enthusiasts. The unofficial editor is Mike O’Connor P. O.
Box 18117, Fountain Hills, Arizona 85269. Any and all comments

combination of age darkened varnish and
olive green paint with mildew blossoms,
took it apart, gave it a sanding, stained it, re-
finished it, reassembled the stand, scraped
out the disintegrating paper liners, scuffed
and painted 68 handles black and refilled it
with type.

Sitting atop the cabinet is a recently purchased
Golding Diamond press.

Mike Anton relates how the purchase
came about:

APA JOURNAL y,

“I got a phone call from the family of a

retired small town newspaper printer. They
had made an Internet search for St. Louis
Letterpress and found my name as a contact
for the St. Louis Letterpress Society. I got
the impression that the newspaper closed
quite a while ago and all the equipment
was left in place. Then the building was be-
ing sold and the family had so many days
to empty the building. The rear of the roof
had partially blown off and the remains of

URNAL is the unofficial publication of the Amalgamated welcomed. The publication is published as the spirit moves the
editor but a monthly schedule is hoped for. Contact the editor.

APA‘s web site:

Amalgamated Printers’ Association

a recent snow were pouring into the shop
as it melted. The Polhemus cabinet was
still in the dry area, but the drawer fronts
were black with age-darkened varnish, and
the top, sides, and back had been painted
some tint of olive green now splotched with
brown mildew blossoms.

“Over the sound of rushing water, Patty's
eyes met mine. ‘Did you see that cabinet?’
she murmured. I nodded, ‘You want it?’ I
asked. ‘Yes, if it will fit in the house,’ she
answered, ‘I can make it fit,’ I replied.

“With the help of Bob Magill, we

bought and moved all of the type and cabi-
nets, except one as the family wanted some
typecases as keepsakes for all of the grand-
children. The type in that one cabinet was
pied into several boxes by the family before
we came back with a rented trailer and Bob,
who does casting, ended up with most of
that. I took the Polhemus cabinet apart to
facilitate stripping the old finish, and the
pieces were brought into our basement
shop to be reassembled. It will have to be
disassembled again to fit through the door-
way. Someday that will be our daughter's

APA JOURNAL 3
problem.

“We did save several sizes of ‘Tiffany
Shaded, Halftone, Curtis Post, American
Italic, a font of Old Roman Black, one of
Cleveland Script, and something labeled
Freeport that I haven't found in a speci-
men book yet. We also found a few ding-
bats with a Johnson Foundry pinmark and
several fonts of wood type and one of wood
border.

“We have invested many hours in time
and effort cleaning up the cabinet, but we
are very pleased to have it in our collection.”

TE HLL
UME MH J

APA's 50th —
THE BEGINNING

The APA’s celebration of its 50 year
didn't exactly set any records for stupen-
dous celebrations but that doesn’t mat-
ter.

The November bundle sort of says it
all. | called it a WOW in the headline and
it was. The last time | used that was for

...from the editor
Mrxke O'Connor

John Horn’s Poster Mailing. Maybe | can
use it again for December? It said a lot
about APA.

Pat Leary in a recent Letpress post
commented on how many of the pieces
were produced by members with high
membership numbers, meaning of
course, that they were new mem-
bers. Not only that, but many
of the excellent pieces were
produced by new mem-
bers! | don’t mean that this
is surprising nor mean to
implicate that many of the
“old-timers” didn’t have ex-
cellent pieces in the bundle.
It’s just that it’s nice to see
new blood jumping right into
activity and what's more—putting their
best foot forward.

Map 3p)

a

IO),

Nil WN fsa

What does that say? Having been in
the secretary's chair for the past two
years, I’ve seen the new members coming
in and in advance, have seen the print-
ing they can produce. Letterpress does
indeed have a future and so does APA!

They may not always follow the tradi-
tions that us old farts have adhered
to for all of our printing lives but
you can’t argue with much of
their fine work.

What's more, they aren't
shy to step forward to help out
and certainly be immediate
participants in our organiza-
tion.

What a way to end the year. Of

course, we aren't finished with the
year yet. What will December bring? I’m
starting to drool. Sorry.